Zepher Loesch (Photos courtesy Tom Loesch)
Breakin’ ankles and takin’ names in college.
Birth of a gym rat.
Loesch with sisters Mia (left) and Kalia in 2008. (Dawn Hesselgrave photo)
Duct tape made Zepher Loesch a better basketball player.
The 2009 Coupeville High School grad, who could shoot out the lights during his days as a Wolf and went on to play college ball at Linfield, was the very definition of a gym rat.
He and teammate Cody Peters would have lived on the basketball court if allowed. So, they did a little something extra from time to time to make sure they got more time in the gym than the authorities were giving them.
“Coach (Randy) King, (Ron) Bagby and (Willie) Smith were constantly kicking Cody and I out of the gym, and we knew it was coming but that was our life at that point and time,” Loesch said. “Sometimes we’d put duct tape on the inside of the door so we could get into the gym early before coaches or teachers showed up.”
That dedication paid off, as Loesch, even after missing a huge chunk of his senior season with a broken hand, earned Cascade Conference honors during a season in which the Wolves pulled off a milestone win that has stayed with him.
After dropping their first five meetings with league power King’s, the Wolves shocked the Knights 54-52 in double overtime Jan. 30, 2009, proving once and for all Coupeville could play with the big boys.
Loesch was a two-sport star, teeing it up with the Oak Harbor High School golf team (since CHS doesn’t field a team), but hoops was the driving force in his life.
“Basketball is and always will be my favorite,” Loesch said. “Academics taught me the basics, but basketball was my avenue for it all. If I didn’t have above a 3.2 I couldn’t play sports. It was the only way my parents could get me out of the gym and into the classroom.
“I can definitely say that the life I had through basketball and the events it carried me through are what effected they way I live my life more than anything except my family’s own impact.”
He credits teachers (“Mrs. (Barbara) Ballard and Mr. (Kyle) Nelson were the first ones that challenged me enough to pay any attention in class; their classes were more difficult then some college classes simply because you could tell it was their goal to prepare kids for college”) and his family for helping shape him.
“My father (Tom Loesch) taught me everything I needed to know to compete competitively and my mom (Dawn Hesselgrave) taught me all the basics starting from a younger age,” Loesch said.
His friendship with Peters, the big man in the paint next to his three-point bombing presence on the perimeter, was, and remains, a huge part of his life.
“Cody is and always will be like a brother to me,” Loesch said. “Off the court we are two totally different people but we grew up doing what we both loved more than anything at the time; no one can change that.
“We have been teammates forever and it’s something that will never change.”
He learned early, though, that no one can drive a person to success quite as much as the guy looking back at you in the mirror.
“You have to push yourself harder than anyone else will push you to make it to the next level,” Loesch said. “No one will make you get there, you have to take it upon yourself. There is an answer to every excuse.”
After playing college ball at Linfield, Loesch moved into the financial industry, first in Bellevue and now in the sunny surroundings of Maui.
He’s a busy guy, juggling work as an investment analyst for Wealth Strategy Partners with growing his own company, All Island Printworks and Design — now the largest custom merchandise manufacturing company in Hawaii.
While he’s far away from Coupeville these days, Loesch does keep a proud eye on the growth of younger sisters Mia and Kalia Littlejohn, who have torn up the courts as CMS players.
The pair learned their style of playing (New Jersey street ball style is what I call it, and I’m stickin’ with that) from their older brother, who schooled them on the court from an early age. Watching them burn down the nets, he couldn’t be happier.
“I hope they remember my sisters more than they will ever remember me,” Loesch said. “These years are about them; they have worked hard since they could walk to be athletes and I have no doubt in my mind that they’ll be in the record books.
“It feels great to know they are successful at what they love to do and that they allocate some of that towards myself,” he added. “They will both out-perform anything I ever did very easily; I couldn’t express how proud of them I am.”
Seeing their confidence and swagger on the court reminds him of his own days in the red and black. Never back down, never give up, never give in — all family traits.
“They won’t let anyone out hustle or out work them,” Loesch said. “The crazy part to me is how easy it is for them right now.
“They are a lot like me in the sense that they perform when they need to perform; I am excited to see how they perform outside of school ball where the competition is much more realistic to the next level,” he added. “Mia and Kalia are everything to me, just to see them starting to be successful is more than enough for me.”
And when he does see them, he’ll be a dutiful older brother and continue to impress on them the lessons he learned.
“Confidence is avoiding all thoughts that weaken you,” Loesch said. “This is something I tried to instill in my little sisters since they were toddlers; it has definitely stuck as they play with an attitude day in and day out.
“As a family we take pride in that.”
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